Branch closure review is needed

January 29, 2006

The Indiana General Assembly should establish for itself a process to review Bureau of Motor Vehicles branch closings. The process it creates ought to come with some clout. A proposal now under consideration is Senate Bill 92. It would create a permanent legislative committee to make recommendations to the BMV commissioner. Unfortunately, the recommendations wouldn't carry any real authority. The BMV commissioner could choose to simply ignore them. The legislative committee created by SB 92 also would weigh in on the dozens of branch closures and downsizings mandated last year by BMV Commissioner Joel Silverman. Again, the commissioner could ignore the committee's conclusions. But at least the conclusions would be on the record. While the legislature isn't asserting itself as much as we would wish with SB 92, we believe that just establishing the committee is worthwhile. Last year when Silverman shocked communities all over Indiana by closing more than 20 license branches, he waited to do it until after the legislative session had concluded. It would be much harder for the agency to so blatantly undervalue service to the public if there were a prescribed role for the lawmakers. It always is possible to save money by eliminating services. Silverman proved that. The price of that sort of "efficiency," unfortunately, is the convenience of the people who need access to branches. They are forced to drive longer distances, miss more work and wait longer in line. In Indiana, which now requires that citizens present an official government photo ID in order to vote, it is especially important that Hoosiers have access to license branch services. Closing a branch is a drastic decision. It should not be made unilaterally. We wish the General Assembly would give itself more of an oversight role. But better that it should have an advisory role than no role at all. Lawmakers should approve SB 92.